Pressure piles on Netanyahu over Gaza

JERUSALEM/GAZA — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting international and domestic pressure after the killing in Gaza of six captives, with US President Joe Biden saying Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure the release of hostages.

Britain said on Monday it would suspend some arms exports to Israel, citing a "clear risk" they could be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he was "deeply disheartened" by London's decision, while the premier said he sought forgiveness for failing to save the latest hostages killed.

"Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this," Netanyahu said during a news conference as he rejected making any "concessions" in Gaza cease-fire talks.

Abu Obeida, a Hamas spokesman, said remaining hostages would return "inside coffins" if Israel maintains its military pressure on Gaza.

A statement said "new instructions" had been given to militants guarding the captives on what to do if Israeli troops approached.

In Washington, Biden met US negotiators working alongside Qatar and Egypt to try to secure a truce deal that would free the remaining hostages in Gaza in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Asked by reporters if he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages, Biden replied, "No."

Netanyahu said on Monday Israel must retain control of the key Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, where Israel says Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza. Egypt and Hamas deny those claims but the border remains a significant sticking point in negotiations.

Vital corridor

Netanyahu called the corridor vital to ensuring Hamas cannot rearm via tunnels. "This is the oxygen of Hamas," he said.

"Hamas has to make the concessions," said Netanyahu, whose critics have accused him of prolonging the conflict to stay in power.

Israelis were gripped by grief and fury after the military said on Sunday the bodies of six hostages, all captured alive during Hamas' Oct 7 attack on southern Israel that triggered the conflict, were recovered from southern Gaza.

A strike announced by the Histadrut trade union seeking a hostage deal brought parts of Israel to a standstill on Monday, although some cities were largely unaffected.

With Gaza lying in ruins and the majority of the 2.4 million residents forced to flee, often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions, disease has spread.

After the first confirmed polio case in 25 years, a vaccination drive got underway on Sunday with localized "humanitarian pauses" to the fighting.

However, an AFP journalist reported troops blowing up homes in Gaza City and warplanes hitting a house to the east overnight into Tuesday.

The territory's civil defense agency said Israel carried out a deadly strike on a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Khan Younis, as well as bombarding central Gaza.

About 160,000 children received the first polio vaccine dose on Sunday and Monday in central Gaza, the territory's health ministry said.

Palestinian mother Basma al-Batsh told AFP on Sunday she was "very happy" the vaccination drive was happening.

Since the conflict erupted, violence has surged in Israel's border area with Lebanon and in the West Bank, where the Israeli military launched a large-scale offensive last week.

The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday at least 26 Palestinians have been killed in the northern West Bank over the past week.

Three Israeli police officers were also killed in a shooting Sunday in the southern West Bank, an area where three Palestinians have also been killed in recent days, according to the territory's health ministry.

In Lebanon, the health ministry said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in the south killed two people on Monday.

Agencies Via Xinhua